Chaos Bringer
by Wishtikana
Summary: Thousands of years after the Republic's rebirth, the Sith once more have control of the galaxy. A new force user is born one who is not haunted by the prophecy of bringing order to the galaxy. He will bring chaos.
1. The Awakening

Author's Note: This story is set in the Star Wars Universe. As such I do not own anything except the main characters.

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Chaos Bringer - Chapter One: The Awakening

Long ago, in an era hidden now by the silken veil of time, there once were people who protected the known galaxy. These beings walked a path known as the Light Side, and sought to aid those in need…

That time is no more.

Far away, on the long-deserted fourth moon of Yavin, something moved amidst the deserted Masassi ruins. These once proud buildings no longer stood as they once had, and many stones had fallen from their towering heights. The jungle had once again encroached upon the cleared areas and the once paved courtyards were now home to the enormous shady trees that populated the planet. Yet amidst this jungle wilderness, life continued. A small lizard crawled up one of the toppled stones, and found itself a rare beam of sunlight to warm itself in. Nearby a crystal snake slithered through the leaves in search of a meal. Strangest of all though was the sight of a young man, garbed in a pair of tattered pants, leaning his tanned back against a nearby tree. No human had stood on Yavin IV since the day the Jedi of old had been massacred. The now overgrown courtyard had become a pool of blood on that day.

Zayne sighed and rubbed his right temple. The ache had gotten worse. Late last night, he had developed a mild headache - not an uncommon occurrence in Yavin IV's heat. This headache however was different from all the others he had experienced since that time, five years ago, when he had awakened to find himself in a jungle and with no memory of his past - only his first name, and a sense of everything around him. This headache refused to comply with the treatments which usually sent the pain fleeing. This time the pain had only intensified to the point where now his head throbbed and pulsed with pain. Even his eyesight had started to suffer. At last he had come to the ruins to see if spending some time amongst its cool stones would help to ease the pain. He sat down next to the area where the lizard sunbathed. "_Glad you're enjoying yourself little friend."_ he thought as he set his throbbing head against the stone and shut his eyes to keep out the hurtful light.

The lizard turned and looked at him curiously, cocking his head from side to side to see him at all angles. Deciding that the human wasn't going to eat him, the lizard returned to its sunbathing. Hearing the disturbance caused by the human, the crystal snake also drew near to get a better look. It slithered closer to the human and found itself almost squished when the human moved its leg. Frightened, the snake did what and respectable snake would do in that situation, and buried its teeth in the human's flesh.

His sleep disturbed by another shot of pain, Zayne opened his eyes to see a flash of light glinting off something that moved away quickly. He looked at his leg, the source of the new pain, and saw two red dots marking where the snake had bitten him. Zayne saw this, and then promptly fell into a deep sleep as the snake's venom penetrated his body.

He woke many hours later to find the lizard had left, the sun had long since set, and amazingly his head no longer pulsed with the pain it had earlier. Sighing in relief he ran a hand through his shaggy dark brown hair only to freeze as a most spectacular sight laid siege to his vision. Around him stood three figures, all fully garbed in layered clothing - odd considering they were in the jungle, and deep in conversation. "Kyp must be stopped." One of them commented, looking skywards. "Who knows what damage he'll do with it?"

In an instant, the three were gone to be replaced by a sleeping man and a toddler brandishing a laser sword against several scorpion-like creatures. Then they were gone too, and more and more flashes replaced them.

Nearby, a glowing figure dressed much like the first three watched as Zayne looked one way, then another, then finally screamed and fell to the ground silent. He turned back towards the deeper jungle and before vanishing took one last look back. "May the force be with you son."


	2. A Mysterious Distress Signal

Chapter Two: A Mysterious Distress Signal

It had been a good day for Rhia and her co-pilot Korran Wess. The two had just completed a successful flight to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyk to smuggle out some of the weapon caches stored there. Despite the Arbann - the Sith imposed ban on weapons other than stun sticks, there was always a high demand for blasters and ammo packs. Rhia and Korran made it their business to supply the large demand. Luck had been with them and they had obtained enough to fill their cargo hold to the point of bursting. This run would be a lucrative one. Rhia was finishing the calculations for the hyperspace jump that would take them to the Hutt inhabited world of Nal Hutta, when their ship, _Rebirth_, had received an incoming distress signal. Korran turned and scanned the radar, but to his surprise, found no ships or anything large enough to be the remains of a ship on the screen. He let out a grunt. Rhia walked across the small cockpit to peek over Korran's shoulder to see the source of his apparent puzzlement.

"What's up?" she asked, staring at the screen.

"We've just received a distress signal, but there's no ship on the radar!" Korran explained. "You don't suppose..." he began, but was silenced as Rhia nudged him out of the seat and accessed the computer in front of him.

"Hmm..." she mumbled rubbing her chin in thought after a second or two of furious key punching. "This is really strange." she added.

"It's not a trap is it?" Korran asked, worried that once again his pilot friend's past was coming back to haunt them.

"Not unless they've gotten a lot more creative." Rhia added. "This transmission is coming from somewhere in the Yavin system." she said and waited for Korran to speak again.

"The Yavin system?" he asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, that's what I'm getting of the report."

"But that's halfway across the galaxy! How could a distress signal come from that far

away?"

"I don't know." Rhia shook her head in puzzlement. "Let's go see what it's all about!" she said, her gray eyes flashing with curiousity and a newly reawakened sense of adventure.

Korran sputtered. "We can't just go gallavanting across the galaxy because the communications on this piece of junk -" he kicked the side of the _Rebirth_. " - have started malfunctioning."

"Oh yes we can, because they're not malfunctioning." Rhia argued. "This is a genuine call for help, and besides, weren't you saying about fifteen minutes ago that we should take an indirect route to Nal Hutta?"

Korran sighed and rolled his eyes, but finally nodded his assent. When Rhia started acting like this, it was better to go along with her, because if he pressured her into not doing it, life got to be very hellish for him until she got her way. "If you end up the slave dancer of that Coruscant bastard again though, I am not saving your ass." he mumbled under his breath.

Rhia glared at him. "I thought we'd agreed that you were never to bring that up again." she said coldly; her eyes no longer showing their enthusiasm for an adventure, but now exhibiting great pain and even more than that - a blaze of anger that could be compared to the explosion resulting from a moon smacking into a planet.

"I'm sorry Rhia." Korran muttered. "You know I don't want that to happen again. I care about you too much." he said. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Rhia finished up the hyperspace calculations, this time setting the destination to the Yavin system, and then turned to leave. "You know I don't want you to care about me like that Korran." she said, and then vanished down the hall to the passenger quarters of the _Rebirth_.

Korran sighed and shut his eyes for a moment, wishing he could make Rhia understand. The first time he'd seen her had been at a party held by Drelle Saab, a wealthy Coruscant citizen, and a member of the Galactic Ruling Council. That night, Rhia had been called upon to dance for those fortunate to receive an invite to Drelle's party. Korran had been there by chance, delivering some paperwork to Drelle.

_A lithe body swayed to the music in the corner of the room. Red hair flowed behind the girl like a veil as her hands tapped out a rhythm on the small metal cymbals she wore on her thumb and index fingers. She danced closer and he could hear the clinks and chimes caused by the bells and metal adornments on her scanty costume. He looked up into her face and fell utterly in love._

Korran shook himself out of the memory and turned to start the jump to hyperspace. After that dance, he had watched Rhia be brutally beaten because of someone else's mishap.

_She twirled around continuing her dance towards her owner, Drelle, and allowing Korran to _

_cease drowning in her deep grey eyes. When she was within a few feet of Drelle, she twirled and her pale foot came in contact with the contents of one of Drelle's more drunken associate's drink. She slipped and fell, catching a delicate sculpture of a Twi'lek dancer and smashing it into a thousand pieces. "You clumsy oaf!"_

Korran pushed the button and watched as the stars blurred together, much like his eyesight that night.

_The sound of her scream as Drelle struck her with his metal cane, and the sight of her pale skin marred by the trickle of blood. His own vision going to red and then turning to leave the crowded room._

_She'd been taken from the party area soon afterwards to be returned to her quarters, but Korran had seized upon the opportunity and had dispensed the guard with a single shot of his blaster. "C'mon - I'm getting you out of here." he had told the beauty whose eyes now pierced his soul with the pain stored there. "He won't hurt you again - I promise."_

_She had nodded and had followed him first to his quarters on Coruscant, and then to a transport taking them to the Corporate Sector._

Again, Korran sighed. They'd been together ever since, but Rhia had yet to respond to him in the way he hoped for with all his being. After sitting at the controls for another hour, he followed the path earlier taken by Rhia and headed to the sleeping area. He saw her red hair already on the pillow in her bunk. He smiled sadly and walked quietly over. He kissed the tips of his fingers and placed them carefully against the side of her face. "I love you." he whispered before turning back to the cockpit to wait for the hyperspace jump to end.


	3. Visions of a Bygone Era

Chapter Three: Visions of A Bygone Era

Days passed, and deep within the jungle on the fourth moon of Yavin life was beginning to be seen once more. Nothing about the courtyard had changed, except the position of the sun - the young man continued to lie where he fell three days ago.

The young man tossed back and forth almost as if to escape something. He shuddered at one point and lay still, but a few minutes later, his face changed to a look of pure determination, and with a shout he sat up, his eyes open once more. He leaned forward over his legs, gasping for air like one long submerged under water. The last of the fleeting images swept past, and then his eyes only saw his surroundings.

_"What was this all?"_ he thought to himself. _"Some sort of dream?"_ He glanced around the clearing half expecting the clearing to become a haze, filled with men and blood once again. When nothing out of the ordinary happened, he used the block of stone to pull himself to a shaky stance. Once more he glanced about the ruined temple grounds but this time he saw something different.

_The broken temples were whole and sentients of all manner of species gathered in that same courtyard, glancing toward the sky, waiting for something or someone. A small fighter landed in front of him and a young woman limped out of the ship. Several of those assembled ran forward to help her. "We didn't think you'd made it." The woman gave them a grin. "You should know me better than that."_

With that the clearing was once again normal. Zayne sat down on the block of stone and shook his head.

_Again the courtyard changed - this time to show the stones carbon scored from laser blasts. Several of the temples had chunks taken out of them, he assumed by an ion cannon. Out of the jungles came what seemed to be an army, led by men bearing laser swords - the Sith. In the middle stood a man no taller than the others but with an air of leadership about him. He gestured towards the temples with his laser sword. "Take no prisoners!" he screamed._

_More people came out of the temples. Again, peoples from all parts of the galaxy came, they too bore the laser sword as a weapon. There were less of them than of the approaching army, but none of them moved so much as a hair. In the battle that ensued, these people were all cut down, one by one, until there was only one woman left standing._

_"What do you say boys?" asked the leader of the conquerors. "Do we take this Jedi back to the Master? He would delight in adding her to our ranks." Laughter followed from his remaining army - their victory had not been an easy one._

_The Jedi only looked at the ground mournfully, seeing the stones and vegetation stained red - red with the blood of her companions. She reignited her laser sword and held it in front of her. She turned her gaze towards the leader of her would-be captors. "This will not be the end of us." _

_she said._

_More laughter came from the remaining Sith._

_The Jedi continued - her gaze clouded as if she was looking into another era._

_"One of us will come, _

_Bearing with him the skill of us all._

_He will be all of us and neither,_

_A dark prince who brings hope."_

_With this, the Jedi swung her laser sword and brought it's point to burn through her chest, ending her life immediately. The remaining Sith stared at her fallen body for a minute then continued their laughter. "Well, it's easy to see why the Jedi fall so easy..." their leader commented. "They're all bloody lunatics!"_

The vision released him, and once more Zayne was staring at the present. "That snake venom has gone to my head." he said, rubbing his eyes. "I'm hallucinating." Still, he shuddered, remembering the sight of all those people dying.

"Call it whatever you want, but don't doubt that what you saw was real." replied a voice.

Startled, Zayne turned to scan the courtyard again, searching for the voice's source.

The second figure, Revan, reentered the courtyard. Zayne could now see it more clearly, and saw that it was a man carrying a laser sword strapped to his belt like the Jedi in the visions. "Relax." he said, stopping several paces away from Zayne. "I do not come to harm you."

Zayne felt his pulse start to race, remembering the last words he'd ever heard from Arya, his mother. _"If ever you encounter a man with an air of power around him, run Zayne. All you can do is run." _Another flash went through his mind and he stammered.

"You're one of them." he began, the man's face sticking out in his memory of the hundreds of lives he'd seen in his dreams.

The man sat on one of the blocks nearby and nodded. "My name is Revan." he said slowly. "My time was ages before the time you now think of as legend." he added.

"But then how-"

"Those of us strong in the Force leave an imprint behind and are sometimes allowed to come to the aid of those still in need."

"I wasn't needing aid -" Zayne protested, but was cut off by Revan.

"Maybe no longer, but for many years I've taken care of you, made sure you didn't wander

to places where the hungry beasts lie."

Zayne looked up at Revan "Taken care of me? Why? I'm just..." he stammered.

Revan smiled, remembering eons ago when he himself was faced with a similar situation. "If what I observed is correct, you can use the Force." Revan replied. "That makes you unordinary in this era when only two others exist."

Zayne heard the woman's words again and shuddered.

"Besides that, you seem to see the past. Can you not see that sometimes the most unexpected smallest thing can change everything?"

"And you're wanting me to be this one small thing?" Zayne asked, incredulous.

"You're the only one who can do it." Revan sighed, then forced himself to meet Zayne's eyes once again. "Do you remember Arya?" he asked gently.

Zayne met Revan's gaze and memories he thought he'd long ago buried came to his concious thoughts. Memories of innocents dying, and Arya, placing him in a lifepod, hoping to save him from the mysterious man she feared.

Zayne looked down at the stone he sat on, and once more saw it covered in blood. "I'll do it." he said. "No one should ever have to face that." he said softly. He looked up from the stone and discovered that Revan was gone - if he'd even been there to begin with.


	4. Through the Mists

Chapter Four: Through The Mists

Back aboard the _Rebirth_, Korran was preparing the ship for its reversion back to realspace. A countdown appeared on the screen in front of him and within a minute the streaks of light shortened again into stars surrounding a gas giant. "Rhia!" Korran called, hoping that she would be in a better mood after having some sleep. He heard a muffled sound from the back of the ship and then heard footsteps as Rhia joined him in the cockpit of the _Rebirth_.

Rhia entered the cockpit, stretching to remove the last remnants of sleepiness from her system. With a yawn, she sat down in the seat beside Korran's and proceeded to run a scan of the area surrounding them. After a few minutes she sat back in frustration. "There's no sign of a ship or remains."

"Well then where did your distress signal come from? According to you they don't just materialize out of thin air."

"You don't need to get so smart with me. I know this one came from somewhere and my coordinates tell me it should be right he -" Rhia cut off as the sight of a moon came into view from behind the gas giant. She eyed the moon's path and turned back to Korran. "It's got to be on the moon."

"On the moon? Rhia this is an uninhabited system!"

"Well the scanner is showing life on that moon." she pointed to the now visible green orb.

"It seems to be some sort of jungle moon - well capable of sustaining life."

Korran moaned. "I suppose that means I'm going to be trudging through the jungle."

"Smart man."

With this, the _Rebirth_ sped towards the fourth moon of Yavin, the moon which had held its secrets, untouched for centuries was now about to lose its cloak of mystery once again.

Down on the moon, Zayne's head jerked upwards. "There's someone up there." Zayne said with wonder. Less than a minute later, his statement was confirmed when a small ship came into view. _"It wasn't a hallucination."_ Zayne thought, as he stared at the area where the ship no doubt landed, a sense of fear filling him, but also one of gleeful anticipation for what was about to happen. Zayne had no doubts that it would change his life.


	5. What Was Lost

Chapter Five: What Was Lost

Rhia looked out of the _Rebirth_ with curiousity. There was no reason this planet shouldn't be inhabited. The stones around her showed signs of once having been a haven for intelligent life, but yet there was no sign of any intelligent being.

"You might as well admit that the signal was a systems malfunction and let us get out of here." Korran said. "There ain't nobody here."

"There has to be. I'm going out to look."

"Rhia-" Korran had no chance to finish his comment as Rhia jumped off the gangplank and began to head towards the ancient ruins. He shook his head. "There ain't no arguing with her."

Rhia reached the ruins quickly and stared at the immense stones. _"Must've taken quite a bit of something to get these things built."_ She continued her observations until she heard Korran's footsteps. At this, she walked around the side of one of the immense buildings. She rounded a corner, and found herself face to face with a man about her age. She stopped dead in her tracks, taken by surprise.

Zayne stared at the woman in front of him. He'd sensed her coming through the force, but it had not prepared him for the sight of her. Even if he regained his lost memory, he knew he'd never seen someone like her, and would never do so again.

Rhia finally regained her senses. "You're the one who sent the distress signal."

Zayne shook his head. "Distress signal?" he asked completely flabbergasted.

"I received a distress signal from this planet." Rhia explained, then paused. "Are there more people on this planet?"

"No." Zayne stated, wondering just what the woman wanted. He stood and swayed, the world around him going to black again. The last thing he felt was a big pair of hands catching him as he fell forward.


	6. To The Realm of the Sith

Chapter Six: To The Realm Of The Sith

Korran had taken his time in following Rhia. She hadn't gone far enough however for him to fall way behind. When she disappeared around a building and he heard voices, he hurried anyway. "_No knowing what kind of creature lives in this kind of a place. And I'm still not sure this is a trap._" Korran rounded the corner, just in time to see a young man stand and then start to fall. Not thinking, he leapt forward and slowed the young man's fall, catching him halfway to the ground. Setting him down, he turned to Rhia. "Is he the source of the signal?"

"He says he's not - but there's no one else here according to him. That's all I got out of him before..."

Korran felt the man's forehead. "He's got one hell of a bloomin' fever Rhia."

"We'll have to get him to the ship. There's a small med kit in the back." Rhia said. "Do you

think you can carry him?"

Korran nodded. "Just let me know if I'm going to trip over anything."

Within minutes, Korran laid Zayne down upon the bunk in the living quarters of _Rebirth_. Rhia hurried in with the med kit and was disappointed to find that most of its contents had been used up. "It's a good thing someone checked this." she muttered as she drew out the last bacta pack.

"Did you find it?" Korran yelled from the cockpit where he too was digging through miscellaneous storage spaces.

"All I've got is one bacta pack." Rhia yelled back, clipping the pack to a blood infuser. With a quick movement, Rhia wiped Zayne's right arm and then pushed the infuser against his skin and

pulled the lever.

After carefully replacing the infuser back in its case, Rhia walked to the cockpit. "We're going to need to get to some sort of med center. He's not going to get over that fever with one bacta pack."

Korran pointed to the navicomputer screen in front of him. "The closest planet is a heavily inhabited Sith controlled world." Ignoring the look Rhia gave him he continued. "The Sith that are looking for us are not going to be looking for us on their doorstep."

"Are you sure about this Korran, normally you're the one of us with some caution."

"I'm not saying you should walk off the ship, grab the first Sith officer you see, and proceed to tell him a long narrative story of our lives, but if we just blend in with the local law abiding populace, I don't see that we're going to have any trouble."

"Alright." Rhia replied, automatically starting the preflight checks. Korran checked the navicomputer again, and then ignited the engines to get them off planet. Soon, he was punching in a course and then once again sitting back to watch the lights of distant stars blur together as they went to hyperspace.


	7. Sith Interlude

Chapter Seven: Sith Interlude

Far away from the jungles, on the inner world of Coruscant, the government of the galaxy had changed hands again. This time, Coruscant was not to be the center hub of the government as it had been for countless ages. Now all that remained of it's city-wide shining towers was a smoking rubble. Here and there a few people who had survived the slaughter cried out for aid, but the only one to hear them was a lone man clad entirely in black. He made his way amongst the smoking rubble, carefully avoiding any of the dying. His goal was soon plain, a tiny one man fighter was perched precariously on top of a fairly flat piece of rubble.

The man strode up to the fighter, making no noise other than the soft scuffle of his boots against the rubble beneath. When the man was within a few steps fo the fighter, he removed his

right glove pulled out a tanned hand and placed it against the side of the ship. A door opened, and the man stepped into it, leaving the ruined world of Coruscant behind.

Hours later, the same ship appeared out of hyperspace and joined one of the many flows of traffic surrounding a space station. The fighter did not stay there long though, it veered off in a direction heading for the central part of the space station, just as a transmission was recieved. "Fighter 869-S, you are cleared to land." The man grinned darkly. He was home at last.

He strode down the hallway to the central hub of Space Station Amyr, his boots making a clicking sound that contrasted with the silence around him. There were others in the hallway, true, but they all stopped and gazed at him with fear in their eyes until he passed. He was met by two guards, garbed in a silver armor that flashed red as the light hit it from different angles. "Lord Avran" one said, nodding in recognition. "You are expected." Behind the guards, the door that marked the end of the corridor slid open. Avran strode through the doors, ignoring the guards as well as he had ignored the others in the hall.

Inside was a circular room, furnished only sparsely, but still seeming to be crowded. The source of the overcrowding, Avran suspected, was the dark woman occupying the room. The Lady Enin was as tall as he was himself and slender, but she carried with her an air of supreme power. _"Well that she should - she controls the galaxy for all material purposes now."_ "My lady, Tanis is dead. There will be no more protests from that quarter." he stated, sweeping aside his cloak and kneeling.

Enin strode over to the kneeling Sith lord. "You have done well Avran." she stated, stroking

a hand down the side of his face and shoulder. "Very well." she finished. She walked in a circle, studying Avran from every angle. When she faced Avran's front once more, she grasped his arm and pulled him to a standing position once again. "What reward do you desire for this _service_ you have rendered me?"

"Only what you desire to give, my lady."

"Then I shall have to find something exceptionally interesting for you." she purred.


	8. Arrival on Korriban

Chapter Eight: Floating In Bacta

Alarms flashed as the ship reverted back to real space. Korran swore, and threw the ship into a roll, barely avoiding a laser blast from some unseen enemy. Two red blasts streaked out in the direction the others had come from and Korran saw a large flash of light.

"I'll never figure out how you do that Rhia!" said the crackly voice in Rhia's ear. She laughed. "That's why I do the gunning Korran. If it were left up to you, we'd have been space dust long ago!" she teased.

Korran grimaced. "Just don't get cocky up there." he muttered, then leaned over to check the navigation console. "We're almost there Rhia." he called.

Back in the gunner's wing, Rhia gave a sigh of relief. Ever since picking up the strange young man near Yavin, their flight had been plagued by unlucky events. First there was the hyperdrive fluid leak, and then coming out of hyperspace right in the middle of a light fight. Disconnecting herself from the gun controls, Rhia crawled out of the gunner's wing and made her way back to the cockpit. "How much longer are you thinking it'll be Korran?" she asked.

"Well, provided we don't have any more accidents it'll be about fifteen minutes."

"Alright, I'll go make sure that I've got the goods hidden." Rhia said, referring to the contraband guns they carried in their cargo hold.

Soon, the sound of boxes being shoved about filled the ship along with an explicative phrase when Rhia dropped something on her foot.

"You all right back there?" Korran called. A grunt was the only reply he received.

The fifteen minutes flew past and then the _Rebirth _entered the dry atmosphere of Korriban, original birthplace of the Sith order, and longtime stronghold of the current Sith. The minute they docked at a less-reputable spaceport. Rhia bounded down the gangplank and returned within minutes with a small medical droid. Korran finished shutting down the ship and went back to the cabin.

"We're going to have to go to the med center Korran." Rhia said. "This little guy's not going to cut it." The little droid beeped a confirmation.

"I'll settle with the spaceport authorities then and meet you there."  
Rhia nodded, then glanced about the cabin as if she were searching for something. She grabbed something from under her mattress, then headed off the ship again to find a repulsor lift stretcher.

Far away from Korriban on the Sith space station, Avran was once again in Enin's quarters. Thistime however, it was not to be commended for a job well done.

"We've found the leak Avran." Enin said, excitedly. "The opposition has been recieving shipments from Kashyyk - and there have been reports of a small freighter carrying many of those shipments. It has just docked at Korriban."

Avran nodded. "I'm to assume I will be heading back there then."

"I'm having your shuttle prepared as we speak."

"As you wish my lady." Avran bowed and backed out of the room. Now was not the time for voicing his personal feelings on the subject of Korriban.


	9. Reflections and Flight

09 Reflections and Flight

Avran gazed out the front viewport window down to the hot sands of Korriban. The last time he had set foot on those sands it had not been on a mission to kill.

_A small hand found his and big blue eyes gazed up at him. "Papa, are we going on the big ship?" a little boy's voice asked. "Yes Gavin - you're going to live with me now." Gavin's lower lip trembled and he turned his head to look back at the sands. "I miss you mommy." he mumbled. Avran's heart felt as if it had been rent in two. The boy had been too young to lose his mother. He picked up his son and hugged him. "It'll be alright Gavin. I won't leave you."_

Avran jerked himself out of his recollection. Memories of Gavin were still too painful, even now five years after his death.

_He'd sat down at the viewscreen, ready to receive the daily message from his son, now graduated from the Academy and awiting his first officer placement. "Lord Avran-"_

"Lord Avran-" once again, Avran turned his attention back to the present. "My lord, we've found the smugglers."

"Good. Prepare for the landing." Avran turned back to the window. "I have no wish to remain here long."

Deep inside Korriban's medical facility, Rhia rejoined Korran. "They've got him in a bacta tank." she commented as she sat down next to Korran.

"You know, you've got an odd way of picking up new crew members."

Rhia shot him a glare, then leaned back and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

Amidst the bubbles of the bacta tank, Zayne regained conciousness. He gave a start at finding himself submerged in some strange liquid, but he quickly found he could breathe and tentatively checked his senses. There were lifeforms everywhere and none felt familiar except - there. He found two people ina room a ways off and one of them was the woman he'd met on Yavin. Zayne closed his eyes and searched farther, trying to find anything else that was familiar. He stopped abruptly upon feeling what could only be described as darkness. Alarmed, he searched for a way out of the tank but was stopped by the med driod adding sedatives to the tank.

Rhia had just shut her eyes when she felt a surge of panic and fear. She was standing before another thought could cross her mind.

"A bit jumpy aren't you?" Korran asked with a grin.

"We have to go Korran."

"But-"

"Now." interrupted Rhia, spinning and heading out the door.

Korran got to his feet and followed her out, wondering what the heck had happened to get Rhia so intent upon leaving. As they scurried along the maze of corridors, Korran glanced out a window and saw a Sith capital ship landing. He caught up to Rhia and tapped her on the shoulder. "Rhia - we've got company." he hissed.

"I knew there was something wrong." Rhia mumbled.

They rounded a corner and were met by a protocol droid leading a Sith officer and seven soldiers towards them. Rhia kept her face lowered and moved against the wall to let the procession past. The second they were out of sight, Rhia raced down the hallway, Korran followed struggling to keep up. Once outside the med center, Rhia turned not towards the _Rebirth_, but towards the slum of the city.

"Rhia! Will you tell me what is going on!"

Rhia stopped and faced Korran, fear showing in her eyes. "They're here for us Korran. We must have gotten more than a few blasters in the last run. That officer was Lord Avran."

Korran's jaw dropped.

"We need to find a ship. They'll have secured the _Rebirth_ by now." Rhia added, stopping to wipe a tear off her cheek. "If they find us Korran, our lives are not worth living."

She spun again and continued walking.

"Where are we going?"

Rhia tossed her head angrily. "There's got to be someone on this bloody planet who'll sell me a bloody ship.


	10. Discovery

10 Discovery

Back in the sprawling medical center, Avran had arrived at an empty locked room. He turned to the silver protocol droid. "You said the area was secured." This was said quietly, but there was no mistaking the anger in the Sith Lord's voice.

"We had it locked immediately upon receiving your message." the droid added.

Avran growled. "Well that wasn't soon enough evidently."

"They will be back." the droid objected. "Their companion is still being treated."

Avran's eyebrows rose. "Treated for what?"

"Some sort of fever sir. We believe it was brought on by shock." the droid babbled. "I can take you to him."

Avran nodded and followed the droid down the hallways to the bacta treatment facility.

"He's sedated sir, so you'll have to wait to speak with him."

Avran waved off the droid and then motioned to the soldiers. "Two of you go back to the waiting area, two of you get to the computers - hunt for any sign of them. The rest of you start searching rooms."

The soldiers saluted, then went about their duties leaving Avran to interrogate the prisoner. Avran turned and strode into the dimly lit room. Ignoring the various diagnostic screens and charts, he made his way to the tank. Halfway there, he stopped abruptly. In the tank floated a young man with a face that he knew.

"Gav-" he breathed, but then stopped. The man in the tank was taller, finer built, and had darker hair then Gavin. Still, had Gavin stood next to him, the man would have been called Gavin's dark twin.

Avran motioned to the droid. "What is his name?"

"I'm sorry sir, we received no information on this patient."

"Run some scans." Avran ordered and immediately thought _"What am I doing? Just because he looks like Gavin is no reason to lose a handle on your sanity!"_ However, Avran did not take back his order. Instead he sat down to wait for results.

Time passed and soon the two soldiers returned to report that the two they sought were nowhere in the building. Avran waved them off and they, sensing the dark lord's preoccupation with some subject, silently left the room.

Avran had just begun to think of hunting down the protocol droid when it reentered the room. Avran stood. "What did you find?" he demanded.

"He is a human male with genes typical of the Hapans and Corellians. No DNA record exists for him, but a scan of possible parents returned one probably match."

"And -" Avran muttered impatiently.

"Well, half the DNA matches the late Hapan princess Orana Skolter."

Avran's heart gave a large thud - he knew what the next words would be.

"The other half is yours."

Avran sat back down. "I have a son..." he whispered.

The droid silently left the room, after punching a few buttons on the side of the bacta tank.

Avran sat for a few moments, then once more became the dark lord. He strode out of the room, barking orders to the soldiers. "Have him brought to the ship immediately!"

Deep in Korriban's inner city, Rhia had found that her credit stash was not enough to buy a ship of any size. "Damn it." she muttered, walking out of the last used ship lot.

"No luck?" Korran asked, moving away from the wall where he'd been waiting.

"I tried everything Korran - we just don't have enough."

Korran put an arm around Rhia and hugged her. "We'll find something - there's got to be someone else on this planet as desperate as we are."


End file.
